Soft morning light, slowly lighting up the scenery before us, welcomed us to this new day. The lovely smell of fresh coffee invited us outside to see the slow dependable mother’s heartbeat of the region, the flowing Mekong, made visible by the movement of rafts of floating plants – water hyacinth, painting splashes of greenery on the river surface. Social chatting on the open decks over a cup of tea, watching the river come to life - a flock of snow white egrets appearing, elegant wings unfolding and lifting them like feathered angels through the tropical shoreline. We were certainly excited about being out on the water on this, the second part of our South East Asian adventure.
Today, Jahan anchored off Cai Be, perfectly placed to investigate this throbbing hub of both local rice creation and river trade. Deep in the nine dragons of the Mekong delta, home of Vietnam’s rice bowl, we boarded local ‘sampans’ – spacious local longboats – designed for relaxed exploring of the rivers intimate waterways, channels and canals. We were quickly surrounded by all kinds of activity – fish farms, hairy red lychees (rambutans) and pineapples for sale, water hyacinth, originally used to stabilise the shoreline from floodwaters and wash - now being grown & harvested – to be turned into everything from baskets to furniture. Fishermen were hand-hauling nets in canoes, unbelievably overloaded barges were bulging with gravel or dredging sand from the rivers bottom for sale.
Music blared from the shore to whip up excitement for a wedding day ahead. Large longboats slipped by, painted eyes on the bow, traditionally positioned to warn off the regions crocodiles. So much to see, and such a cool, refreshing breeze making travel so pleasant and delightful, despite the warm sun above. Everywhere, everything was happening. Such vibrant and chaotic, yet arresting and exotic scenes.
We went ashore in a local village where local industrious activity revolved around the processing of rice. We witnessed the delicate labour-intensive making of rice paper used for tasty spring rolls steamed over a wooden fire. Heated giant woks allowed the stirring and cooking of rice to make it puffed and sweetened for the Mekong’s scrumptious favourite candy, which we gratefully sampled. Some of us were invited to try our hand at making rice paper and although it was only 10:00 a.m. - tasting rice wine! In an attached shop, merchandise included rice wine, which was bottled and jarred, flavoured by interesting additional tastes such including herbs, fruits and even a cobra! Snake flavoured wine is rumoured to come, unsurprisingly, with some side effects. It must be an acquired taste!
Back on the sampans after Emily’s enlightening Introduction to Photography presentation and a relaxed lunch, we sailed along endless bright green riverside vegetation, witnessed fish farms harvesting and weaved our way through one of Mekong’s floating supermarkets – a flotilla of fruits and vegetables - a pineapple, watermelon or a tarot root, skewered high on a flagpole to let buyers know what each boat was offering. A wonderful relaxing and rewarding first day on the absorbing and lively Mekong. We socialised around the open deck bar lounges for our sunset sailing, then enjoyed a lovely dinner followed by ‘The Quiet American’ playing in the main lounge for an entertaining later evening, before a well earned rest for the day ahead.
